My biggest regret with GameStop was my own stupidity and naiveness. I sold my GameCube and PS2 plus over 40 games for like $120 bucks. If i could go back in time for anything i wish i never sold my priceless collection of childhood memories.
hollywood 899 i had the ps2 way before i was even born. That was the first console I actually never wanted to get rid of. Now it’s softmodded and has a 1tb hard drive in it
Only actual bad experience I've had at Gamestop was when I bought Skyrim. The guy who was checking me out asked if I wanted to buy the strategy guide with it, which was like 30-40 bucks or something it seems. I said no, and he told me I'd never get the full experience of the game without it since there was so much shit to do. I told him that was alright, I'd figure as much of it out on my own as I could, thats what made the game so fun. He said that was stupid and that I was wasting my money buying the game without the strategy guide, I chuckled and we argued some more. Eventually I got tired of him and said something like, "If I need to look something up I'll just use the internet, it's free and better than your stupid book. Have you ever heard of TH-cam?". He got pissed and another employee had to come and take over for him. Never went back to that store after. Have pretty much only used Amazon to buy games since.
Guides are more of a collector's thing now. I remember back then, I would buy guides for games I would have trouble with. I would even look through some Nintendo Power mags for tips and cheat codes if I needed help. With the Internet, it is more helpful. I hate to be the devil's advocate, but people at Gamestop are persistent for a reason. If they can't upsell you or sell pre-orders, they lose money and people get written up. I remember my local GS store I would go into are filled with the coolest, chilled employees. Occasionally though, I would get asked to sign up for a credit card, asked if I wanted to pre-order the latest CoD (lulz), or asked to sign up for the Pro membership. Gamestop, unlike typical video game shops and mom n pop stores, are more about the business/retail than the actual games. You can't expect to walk into a Gamestop and *not be upselled* on something. I know GS has pulled some shitty practices in the past and are still somewhat shit today, but not all GS stores are bad.
I agree. There was a small used game store here in town that opened up a few years ago, couple of young guys and what looked like their personal collection, very small hole in the wall store. used to go in and buy a little something here and there, was in there one day and had my eye on a used ds game, they wanted like $2 more than I had in my pocket. I asked if they'd accept the $2 less, they refused, fair enough it's their store their prices, whatever but I couldn't help but feel ganked that they'd stick it so hard over a mere couple of dollars, i had to think that the money i offered would have been preferable to the game just sitting on the shelf unsold, which it did for literal years after. It just stuck in my craw, still dropped by occasionally but always had that gank gnawing at me, never bought anything again, last time I drove by there the storefront was empty. Hope that stupid ds game tastes good with mayo cause you can eat THAT.
Game stop today is a lot like blockbuster in the past. They are living on borrowed time unless the fix their treatment of customers and workers alike, and find new, inventive ways of making money aside from selling preorders.
No they don’t need to fix anything. They need to go out of business. I hate game stop they drove out good and honest video game stores like Game Crazy out of my town. I despised them as a little kid and I still despise them to this day. They WILL go out of business and nobody is going to say otherwise. Don’t even say anything like they need to change. They need to leave. Now
+purplefreak3 Technically, "power to the players" is correct. People have every right not to spend their money there, but they end up going and spending their money, anyway.
The pushy sales tactics used at GameStop has completely turned me off of shopping at those types of stores completely. I remember the first resale video games stores, where you were encouraged to tryout play a game before you bought it. They had every system hooked up to a TV and all you had to do was ask to play it. No pressure. Corporate America has ruined so many simple pleasures in life. For shame.
JT Miller or it means that this is typical of how gamestop operates. Which wouldn’t surprise me at all given everything else thats known about their shady business practices.
That doesn't make money and the bottom line is always going to be: money. GameStop isn't the only place like this. It's everywhere in retail and the food industry. You're a cog in the machine. Easily replaceable because that's how it's meant to be.
Seems there’s a lot of shortsightedness in their management. It absolutely would increase customer trust which is better long term. There are other business that treat their employees better and are thriving nowadays.
I worked at Gamestop on two occasions, for Christmas seasons in 1999 and 2006. The first one went fairly well, but I got disciplined for always chatting up customers about games instead of focusing on sales. Pretty soon, they had me in the back of the store wrapping used systems, away from the customers. I was basically a stocker and nothing else; it was very disappointing. My manager Jeremy basically fired me shortly after, using a lame "the season's over" excuse. My experience in 2006 was roughly the same; I stocked games, ran the register, and sometimes wrapped things in the back. But it was a very small store, and their organization was horrible. My coworkers insisted on keeping the front display nice, but the drawers were chaotic, and a lot of games were smudged or scratched. I got sick about a week before Christmas, but called them up after getting better...only to be told they didn't need me anymore. Frankly, it surprises me they're still in business; I hate the fact they constantly rip people off. Selling a new game for $50, buying it back for $10, and then re-selling it for $45 is absolute BS.
Moviefan2k4 I feel like Game Stop actively goes against employees who don't strictly focus on sales, even if they're talking about games to said person to get them interested in games. One of the coolest Game Stop employees I ever met introduced me to SMT, which is now one of my favorite JRPG series. I went to the store trying to buy games like Final Fantasy 3 and Rogue Galaxy, which the store didn't have in stock. So, noticing I liked JRPGs, the guy showed me Persona 4 and SMT 3 Nocturne, which I fell in love with, and I ended up buying a whole bunch more ps2 era SMT games. Sadly, I never saw him again after that, and it's unfortunate cause he gave a shit about what he was doing.
CrimsonOptics Yep, that pretty much sums up Gamestop's mentality. The owners don't seem to care about anyone beyond their wallets; its very sad, actually.
Just saw this...when you start a story with "I was a pharmacy technician" gets you an automatic subscription. Right in the feels. Great stuff man, keep up the good work!
I've worked at several game stores here in the UK, and if there's one thing I learned from it, it's that the management generally have no idea how game retail works. The average customer in a games store knows exactly what they want, especially so today. Trying to sell a game to a customer that they didn't come into the store to buy is largely futile. The only time your knowledge of the games market comes into play is when you are helping a customer who has little to no knowledge of it, such as a parent buying a gift for their kid. Even then, in those cases, your sale is going to be based on a coin toss. All you can tell them is what is popular in the demographic the intended recipient is in, and make a recommendation from that. The thing is, the company will base their incentives on selling a particular game. The market simply doesn't work that way. The problem is all too often interpreted by management as a lack of skill or knowledge in the employes, when in reality, the problem is that you can't convince someone to buy something they didn't already intend to buy without putting on a hell of a lot of pressure or lying. Both will push customers away.
I've got SO MUCH to comment on about this that I might actually make a video of my own. I worked for gamestop from 04-09 from lowly peeon to manager and I feel your pain times 1000. #1 thing I've got to comment, is that when i started, it was EB games and we were merging with gamestop, who was a smaller company at the time. They held back all promotions on purpose so that they wouldnt have to pay us as much. EB assistant managers started at 12$ an hour. Game stop? 8$ (NY min wage was 7) Basically, I agree w your dislikes and I raise them to hatred. There is so much shit there. SO MUCH.
my worst experience was years ago when Rogue Squadron 2 for gamecube finally dropped in price. I went to pick it up, and the gamestop employee asked if i had preordered it. i laughed and said no. the employee then went on and on about how i should have preordered it. after he finally finished his rant, i told him to look at the game I'm buying... it had been out for a year. he shrunk down and just cashed me out without saying anything else.... except of course to ask if i wanted to preorder anything coming on the horizon. I just laughed and told him "definitely not after what you just put through for a year old game!" Never went back to that store.
I was an acting Store Manager at my GameStop, I had started as a holiday hire and it took me 4 years to work my way up to that title and I just left about half a year ago. The upper management NEVER knew about games, they were only focused on making money. My best store managers were the ones who didn't care, the ones who did were awful. I saw people quit their jobs or get fired over the dumbest things, like consistently not meeting pre-order or pro-membership goals. The last thing they want you to do is to be honest about the games, they don't think customer loyalty is worth it (I had this argument with a lot of district managers). When I left they were offering me a permanent store manager position at a different GameStop store, but when I asked who would take my store and what would happen to the employees that I had trained and worked with at my store, I learned most were planned to be let go. I turned in my two weeks immediately, I explained myself to my employees and apologized to them, and most of them left, and most of my customer loyalty left with me. Point is: GameStop hasn't changed. The people who work there aren't always bad, and you shouldn't blame them, but they are always under a lot of pressure to meet unreasonable goals at the risk of their job. Just as an example, the 2015 holiday pre-order goals were laughable! I was expected to get over 500 pre-orders of CoD in 2 months, that store averaged a couple hundred at most in years past. Another thing: next time you walk into a GameStop, check out how many cameras you see on the sales floor and which direction they're facing in. In my store, there was one on the sales floor and it was pointing BEHIND the counter at the employees, half the store wasn't on camera. There was another three in the back room. Anything goes wrong, and an employee will get blamed and fired for it. Out of all the places I've worked, GameStop was the quickest I've ever seen to turn on it's own.
+PrettyThings I got a notice in the mail last year about GameStop losing a class action suit filed against them for not paying a lot of the seasonals during the 2014 holiday season (when I worked for them, although they did pay me).
There was this one store that used to be around here called Game Mania. I think not many people worked there (maybe 2-4) and it was a small store, but they really knew their stuff, and always made sure whatever I bought, I was happy with. They also had an arcade cabinet in the store, and they would occasionally swap the game in it. Games like MvC2, MK, even Thrill Kill, and I remember them challenging me to matches :D
There is an another game store at the flea market nearby my house call All Games Matter. They sell both new and preowned games. From any consoles even N64.
I was recently "terminated" from GS as a stand-in-keyholder after 3 years there. My hiring store manager got a transfer out of state 3 months after hiring me for getting into a fist fight with a Senior Game Advisor (shift manager) off the clock. His replacement transferred in to prove he had what it takes to be a District manager; when year one was over he asked about promotion ops and they said give it another 3 months. He worked it and they said another three months, so he turned in his 2-weeks. Just about the same time, another local Store Manager was being fired for going to the conference in Vegas, getting an XB1 and PS4 for free and turning in her notice. Our Assistant Store Manager was sent over to ASM the other store while the ASM from that store became SM. ...we had no store manager for 1.5 months and the 3rd on line became ASM and acting SM. He was planning on getting married in a different part of the states and could not give less of a fuck about the store. After corporate figured that out, they got another SM for us (if you're keeping track that's #3). She tried hard but didn't have a clue. The ASM left to get married, and we got a really good ASM replacement. Then corporate made demands the SM wasn't willing to enforce, so she quit and moved out of state. Our 4th store manager had no experience with games or gamestop as a company, but was hired because of his experience selling T-mobile phones. He didn't do shit. Literally, he would come in 20 minutes early, go out back to the office and order a pizza for lunch. He would tell SGAs to do dangerous and unethical things, and tell us not to clean up small messes out back because they hid the larger problems the DM would "bitch at [him] about." We'd report him to the HeroLine, but the DM didn't want to be bothered. After a year of his bullshit, the ASM (that ended up doing both ASM and SM duty at a ASM pay) had enough and turned in his 2-weeks along with a posted letter to the Corporate office of the Regional Manager (the DM's boss). Slacker SM asked his SGAs if they wanted the job and they all refused. Then he asked me and the other GAs. We said no. So he called the DM to get a transfer from other stores and they all politely refused. So the DM authorized Slacker SM to hire off the street for his ASM. He hired an ASM and almost immediately got fired. ...so now the store had no SM, a few SGAs, a newb ASM, myself, and a few GAs. Corporate brings the original ASM that we lost to the other store back as our SM (at least they got that part right). A month in, I see the rookie ASM violating policy and just a friendly warning. Ultimately, I get written up for insubordination. I avoid going in when he's there, so I don't have to make something of it. I go to another close by and see some employees goofing off instead of working. ...but it's not my store so who gives a damn, right? Well, the SGA on duty felt "intimidated" by my catching her in the act and reports me. and that's how I got terminated at Gamestop for knowing too much.
Kind of late to the party here but I've been watching your videos for awhile. Sorry to hear your story, bro. I fully agree that a person in a higher power should have a knowledge and a love for video games. If it wasn't for corporate you would've been an amazing gaming associate! Your knowledge and passion for the games speaks to the gamers like myself. I love your videos. You're awesome!
I worked at GameStop for about 7 years, starting from Game Advisor up to Store Manager. You were spot on about not getting enough preorders and subs in a given day and just caused unnecessary stressed. I'm sorry your experience ended so badly, but it was most likely for the best! Great video!
I work upper-middle/middle management and I think this is so valuable to hear for people at any organization. Dude, finding a motivated member is the hardest thing in the world for any business to get, and it's a shame that they burnt you out with b.s. I keep this in mind day to day, but it sucks that at the end of the day, senior management is going to do what it feels necessary to make spreadsheets looking good. I think this is why (specifically for the gamestops of the world) people need to know that their dollars matter and where they get games drives business practices. Don't like gamestop being sleazy? go to that mom and pop store that sells it for a couple dollars more! Glad you have a successful TH-cam channel so you can do what you are passionate about!
IDK why everyone seems to think so much of gamestop that they get freaked out when they hear stories like this. Work for just about any other corporation and you will get the same treatment.
+hk4124 Exactly. You are there to work. Not to have fun. Your priority is to sell and promote whatever a company is telling you to sell. You hate the company for firing your coworker/friend for stealing a $200 gift card? You stole money from your workplace. That's a terrible worker. Imagine if you owned a store and someone stole your store's money? It doesn't exactly feel good.
hk4124 I am talking about local retail stores. Amazon is online and I don't count it. I've never worked at a Walmart and I've been to one. The only thing that's distasteful is the long lines and unhelpful employees.
I always wondered how it was like working for GameStop, and thank you for sharing your story. GameStop is just another corporation, and pretty much just looks at performance "numbers" and their overalls, it is a sad but the truth of the real world. It is really cool to know that you work in the Pharmacy as a technician. A coincidence is, I also work in the Pharmacy. I have seen pictures of you being in a pharmacy on your Facebook, and was curious. Great story telling and reflection of your GameStop working experience. :)
Id say about 10% of the GS stores have issues like that. Myself and Every person I know that works for GS loves their jobs and always talks about how fun it is to work there. The management is great and the customer service is outstanding and our surveys have to proof to show that. Ive heard bad storys like this from people that work for Best buy, HHGREG, Walmart, radio shack, etc... These are issues that can happen at any retail job but bc of the popularity of GS and how well known it is you hear more storys about them. If you have a problem with
I know things are probably different now, but look up a series of videos called “The Dirty Truth About Gamestop” by Zero Originality. Every word of those videos is true circa 2006-2008. Even the ComCash card.
Oh boy. I share your pain and will in turn share a story that really irked me when it came to working at GameStop. I worked at GameStop for almost three years (May 2011 to March 2014). I started as a Game Advisor before the summer started in 2011. When 2012 came around (April I believe), management wanted to add two Senior Game Advisors because a couple guys moved away. They pretty much just asked us Game Advisors that were there who would be interested. I had some semblance of seniority over the holiday guys, but I wasn't interested because I was going to college at the time and I didn't need the added responsibility of being a Senior Game Advisor. So, one of the holiday guys started training for the position and another more experienced Game Advisor took the other. Fast forward another year later and I'm done with college and ready to progress more in the store. One of the SGAs left as he moved out of state and there was a position open. I was being trained to be the next SGA and was told repeatedly that I was taking that position. When May 2013 came around, it was my full year review. I was then told that I would not be getting the SGA position because they were promoting a coworker of mine instead. Why? Because she was getting more PowerUp memberships and reserves than I was. Admittedly, I never really believed in that business practice and was never aggressive with selling that stuff to customers. I knew it was annoying as did the assistant store manager. But the fact that they were passing me up in favor of my coworker who got them numbers is what really pissed me off. I was being trained for the position. I had the experience. I had the knowledge of the company, video games, and video game industry. To be passed up for someone who was barely there for a year (compared to my two years), didn't pay attention to ongoings within the video game industry and how well newly released video games were doing, and who wasn't being trained for the position was quite frankly insulting. Instead, I got a measly thirty-five cent raise and (while still being assured that my continued work there was appreciated) was only working six to ten hours a week. I was only making eight dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. I learned a very real, yet very harsh lesson that year: when it comes to jobs (unless this is your dream career and your company is wonderful), NEVER SETTLE. Don't do what I did. Do not become complacent and think that things will progress because you are loyal and work hard. Keep applying, keep researching, keep yourself available for other companies. If there are better opportunities out there that you know that you qualify for, apply to them. Keep bettering yourself because if a company only cares about their bottom line, then they will not mind stepping on you and letting someone else who gets their desired numbers join them in doing so.
That IS an important lesson. One of my favorite quotes is "Make game of that which makes as much of thee." Companies have decided to make employees expendable, and manipulate them like pawns in a game. The only appropriate response to that is to treat jobs as expendable, and manipulate companies like pawns in your own game. Anything else is just a fast road to misery.
Pro Gamer. You weren't selected because you weren't good enough. Just like now you'll never be good enough. Somebody who has the balls will always get picked over you. Sucks but maybe you should put in some effort and earn shit instead of crying like a little bitch that somebody who was better than you at your job got the promo
Wow. You really had to dive back into the comments to find one where you can call someone "a little bitch" because they had a bad experience at GameStop. How pathetic. It's funny that you think I'm crying over this when I'm currently working full-time at better pay and just wanted to share my experience with GameStop that happened over two years ago. So you'll excuse me if it sounds like I took things too close to the heart. GameStop was my only source of income and I dedicated a lot of time to that company during my college years and was promised the position repeatedly. How would you feel if you were consistently told that you were being trained for a position higher than your current one and told multiple times that you are going to get it only to get the rug swept from under you because your leaders ended up favoring a less experienced worker who met their forceful sales goals? I even admitted that I hated pushing the PowerUp memberships and reserves. So, yeah, it would be partially my fault that I didn't get the numbers they wanted, but they are even more at fault for leading me on for a month and a half promising me the SGA position. Think on this: They wouldn't have dedicated the time to train me if I wasn't "good enough". I had the balls to take on the assignment and they knew I was ready. I was willing to earn my way up. They just ended up favoring numbers over experience. That is a very sad reality for a lot of businesses. You can bust your ass and know the company, but that won't be seen as valuable as the almighty dollar. Chances are you won't read through this whole thing, but I figure if you're that desperate to get a reaction from someone on TH-cam given that you replied to a comment from back in April I guess a reply would suffice for you. Nice try at trolling for a negative reaction, though.
Pro Gamer. Bro I am going into Games too and hearing what you had to say is a Godsend bro. Because of you and a few others including RTG 85(Sorry if I butchered your name) I will be able to start with open eyes instead of going in thinking Gamestop is made of sugar and spice, and everything nice. But even though I am thankful for your wise words I cannot say I will hate my gamestop. I mean they have always been helpful, they never push pre-orders on us, always help us really well with finding what we want. So in the end even if my experience is all good, I have you to thank for allowing me to say that won't always be the case :)
I hate companies that bluntly take advantage of young people's naivety, desperation, passions, etc to make them work harder and longer but pay them as little as possible. They make a written strategy for doing just that to push every dollar for the corporation.
I use to have a friend who had a retro store, I worked there and he did the same shit gamestop did, after while I told him how he cannot rip people off and lie, I quit and started my own translation business and now he's out of business.
RetroGamingTube85, I hope you see this. You still get in trouble at gamestop if you do not get enough preorders. Also, alot of customers get scolded if they cancel preorders due to the fact it reflects negatively on the employee who cancels said preorder. Gamestop is trash
Dude Gamestop stopped tracking preorders a while ago. if you work there watch the tv when you open or close, its all about bottom line beating your goals in profit by taking care of the customers and making the right decisions. if youre not strong at pre orders then focus on pre owned or GPGs. like i said its all about the end result of bearing plan
+Chris Smith no they dont pay me to get on here on talk. But I have a good store with a tight knit team. You guys hate on us, but we do a lot for our community at our store so my area is pretty cool with us. you have to remember though that we are a business, if you cant sell things we need then maybe it isnt the job for you. You dont have to push things ur not good at like maybe power up, but you have to be good at selling something, otherwise why hire you?
+LoVeL355 not to mention the pro card isnt a bad deal at all if you buy games often. yeah you get the magazine, but all the coupons that go in there that get you money off preowned games and stuff. those pay for card itself
+Chris Smith He's an idiot and I know for a fact they rage if you cancel. It happened to me about 3 months ago. You should have seen the look on this guys face, that if I canceled satan was going to appear with a flaming pitchfork and roast him.
Playstation and Nintendo have their own online stores with their own sales. Corporate Gamestop is floundering and I couldn't care less. Although, I see they're turning to selling game merchandising like figures, plushies, and shirts, which is the only smart thing I can think of doing in a business that's being drowned out by digital sales.
Did you ever see SilentRob's rant on working in GameStop? He ended up being assaulted by a customer for selling out of a game that they had pre-ordered. But I worked in a EB Games in the UK in 1995, during the PS1 launch. Place was a absolute nightmare. I got the exact same shitty treatment you did.
RetroGamingTube 85 It might be on the ShaunD1 channel, but he managed to even get the security camera footage of it for the video. But he got beaten up thanks to GameStop's shitty demands.
Thanks for your honesty . I enjoyed listening to the stories and your reactions to the way that your bosses treated you. Great job with continually saying, "That was how it was years ago". Kudos.
German GameStop staff are kind and very well informed about games and consoles. If you wanted to buy a Wii U when it was still relevant the staff would tell you it flopped and isn’t worth it, they told customers to wait for the PS4 Pro instead of getting the Slim a month before the Pro came out. When you want to sell games they tell you how much you can get and what they’ll sell it for if you ask kindly. (If anyone wants to know) They have awesome trade in offers, games for insanely cheap prices weeks after release or even on release (we got South Park Fractured but whole for roughly 30 USD at release in some stores) I don’t know about corporate America but in Germany GameStop’s rule and the staff is very kind and does a great job, I never asked about their paychecks but I heard from friends who applied there it’s above minimum wage.
I agree that they are friendly and helpful. My main problem with GameStop Germany (and in other countries) is the pricing model. I tried several times sell used games there, but they pay you only like 10-20% of the price for used games. I could easily get the same or more at eBay.de. Why sell a game for 3-4 Euros when later GameStop will sell it at 20? Therefore, I gave up on selling my games there, and instead took the few Euros from selling directly to other gamers. And they lost everything cent of my used games. Another problem I see is the "birthday bonus/gift card". Since my German wasn't that good, I thought I had received per email a 5 Euros discount when buying a game, but instead I was explained by the guy working at shop that I would only get 5 extra Euros when selling games (for low prices). Other shops like Saturn or MediaMarkt would give a code grating a 10 Euros discount if you spend 50 Euros (or 20 for 100 Euros spent). What kind of birthday present is that from GameStop. I have never used that "gift card" for many years, so that GameStop doesn't even send me that email anymore. Other point is the new games pricing model. GameStop has frequently new games 5-10 Euros more expensive than any other retailer (Saturn, MediaMarkt, Amazon DE, etc). They live in a past where perhaps internet and smartphones were not around to let customer shop for better deals. Plus, buying new games gives you half of the fidelity points than buying used games. I spend easily 500 Euros a year in games (since I have PC, Xbox One S, One X, PS4 + VR, Switch, 3DS, PS Vita and Xbox 360), but not a single cent spent at GameStop since like 2 years. Another problem is discounting games price. After a game has been out for 3-6 months the price normally goes down 20-30%, but GameStop is normally the last to lower their price. They probably lose a lot of sales from people waiting for a game to get discounted. I frequently saw games sold used at GameStop for more money than new at Saturn or MediaMarkt. For a shop specialised in games they should understand better when to discount a game, and not worse. At last is the fidelity program Gamestop+? What a joke. You must spend around 4000 Euros in used games (or double in new games) to reach level Epic (level 4), and you don't even get free shipping after that. Saturn's fidelity card requires you to spend 2500 Euros with several advantages and bonuses (like free shipping, extra warranty, etc). After spending around +2000 Euros at GameStop I haven't even reached level 3 (and currently sitting at 79% of level 2). This fidelity program is a joke. Again, I'm not critiquing GameStop Germany alone since I imagine that this must be the norm worldwide, but based on my experiences in Germany I'm done with GameStop DE. The employees are normally very good and friendly, but the company policies and prices exploit gamers/customers in every possible way.
ALSO I'm in an area where there were 25 YES TWENTY FIVE, game stops in a 5 mile radius. We opened a new store in a horrid area for retail (basically everything that went into this shopping centre closed in 6 months) and all I got was shit for the fact that we didn't get business. I mean, I was doing 50$ a day if I was lucky. They asked ME to pay out of my OWN pocket for advertising!!! Ugh...so much wrong.
That's against the law, I hope that you quit after that. Employees cannot pay for advertising at all because it's supposed to come out of the store's budget
12:06 they should keep those in a locked compartment behind the counter at all times. And there should be at least two employees working there at all times
It's like that at petco about the pre-ordering thing. We always have to push these treats or food that isn't even that healthy and if you don't you get in a lot of trouble
RGT 85 yeah I got written up because at petco we have a "wellness room" where all the sick and overstock animals go, we had 3 hamsters in the room that all had been surrenders and they had been there for a week and our animal specialist (lady that does animal checks) said they need to be gone and we have a week. Well they weren't gone and I told her I'm not just going to be passing our hamsters on the side of the road and I got in huge trouble for that.
I follow you on you tube because you honest and blunt when it comes to videos game reviews .. it shows you have a lot of honestly and integrity.. thanks for being Honest in your review and such .
GameStop is a great company to work for if you're looking to gain management experience but there are two BIG drawbacks: 1) the company doesn't develop you afterwards to make you a better employee (i.e. an asset), which in turn 2) creates a cutthroat environment among its associates. This allows the company to use the novelty of its product to attract and retain employees, but since there is no training the cost is very little if associates quit or get fired. The pay, therefore, is commensurate with your perceived value, which as you can see, is very little.
Not even for management experience. You're better off going elsewhere to be a manager, apparently the Ceo doesn't even know how to run the company. I haven't been there in a long time, don't care to return to shop there either.
I dont think I know anyone that works or worked at gamestop that is not an assistant manager! That title dont mean a damn thing! It is just a feel good title! To them you were just a piece of crap employee with a fancy title. My gamestop had 4 employees one manager and 3 assistant managers that pretty much means you are nothing! Gamestop is a very corrupt company and is all about getting all the money they can and dont care that they are ripping people off big time.
+Gene O okey, what you are saying "And is all about getting the money" is literally what a business is for, making money, then there are long term plans the pay of less but over a long time and the short term plan that gets you money quick but you will loose all the customers fairly quick GS is doing the short term plan
Game stop is nothing but a scam period! And they push them pre orders like they are going to run out in 5 mins, It is only to guarantee that store makes the sale unless there is some limited edition crap coming with a game stop pre order. It means nothing it is just a way for management to be in the employees ass because if they dont sell enough you WILL be fired! And trust me EVERYONE does get fired from game stop eventually!! And their slogan "POWER TO THE PLAYERS" BULL SHIT they dont give a damn about the players just their money The last time I was in game stop was to pick up my PS4 on launch night! There is some dirty behind the scenes things going on there that would make your head spin. You wold think it is an innocent game store but you are seriously WRONG!
Because WE THE PEOPLE have let them get this far out of control just like our fucked up government. We keep buying from and supporting them instead of opening to old fashion mom and pop stores. It is pathetic what our country has become in just the past 25 years. Anyways back to gamestop everyone I know that ever worked there has pretty much the exact story it is almost like they are given a script from the time they start to the day they get screwed in the end. I dont even know a manager that has worked there for more then 3 years. (and he got fired also) you are better off working at McDonalds and that is NO JOKE!! I will never buy another thing from gamestop!
Gene O me neither stopped buying games from them except a special version of NHL, other than that i think it was 3 years since i bought something from there nowadays its either downloads or other stores (Y)
Hey it was great hearing about this. I worked at a place called Rogers Video in Canada. Video and game rental / sales. Was fun times. Your story made me happy how nice it was there... We even got our own picks section for a while. That was cool...
My last visit to GameStop (years ago) "Hey man, wanna preorder PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale?" "Why would I preorder a videogame? That makes zero sense, I'm a retro collector. I came here to see if you have a copy of Need For Speed Most Wanted for 360, the 2005 version." "Well, so you can guarantee yourself a copy!" "Dude, every store sells games now. I can just guarantee myself a copy by shopping around if I wanna pay full price for a brand new game. We don't need you for that. We need you for used games. Now, do you have a copy of the game I asked about?"
Yeah. Pre-ordering only makes sense for things that have limited stock or might not be available in your area/store. For example, I live in a smaller city. We have a Wal-Mart, but not a very big/well diverse selection one. So, before Rick and Morty got huge, I would have to pre-order the Seasons on Blu-Ray other wise online would run out of their limited stock and our physical store never had it, only the DVD version. Another example was a few years ago, an obscure show I really enjoyed as a kid finally had a fully series release on DVD, and our local store wouldn't carry it and I knew it would have limited stock online, as it wasn't extremely popular/known. A better game example might be what Wood at BeatEmUps does for Eshop games that get a limited physical release. Or, what some people do for rarer amiibo figures Basically, if the product is rare or has limited stock, definitely pre-order, if you can. But, if you're just looking at buying the next CoD or Whatever, I guarantee you that every store near you will be selling it. Not to mention your Console's digital store will be selling it as well, if you prefer to go that route.
Only one time i wished i preordered a game was Last of Us literally the day it was released i couldn't find a single copy in store i was really pissed i ended up just buying it digitally anyway now the likely hood of a game shortage is slim to none and if their is you might as well just download it on XBL or PSN the only reason i preorder games now is like a savings account put some money into it week after week until i have the whole amount of the game covered
I havent worked at gamestop but i have worked at retail places that sound just like that. It does suck. Glad you found your passion for games again after that and you seem like you are happy and enjoy what you do here :)
Wow, middle of 2005 to 2006. I worked there from 2005 to 2007 as a sales associate and I remembered an uniform policy (khakis or black slacks with dress or polo shirt). Currently, it's relaxed and workers can wear jeans. That's a huge change in my view. Plus, pushing pre-orders sucked because corporate wanted the numbers.
That story makes me so angry. Companies are supposed to support their staff when dodgy people do dodgy things. The fact that they tried to blame you for trading in those games - and essentially just doing your job - is infuriating. Luckily, I've only ever had fantastic experiences working at video game stores. :)
GameStop is a better place in Ireland. The guy who was at the register while I was buying LBP 2 was pretty nice. He asked me if I want to get a game protection plan thing for 1 year for €2 extra. I said yes because who would not wan't to protect their most favourite game of all time? The game disc looks brand new.
Well, think about it: Customer pre-orders game, customer pays, customer receives. Customer plays, doesn't like, returns for a refund or store credit. Store sells back as pre-owned with a profit of 300%+ since the game is still recent.
RetroGamingTube 85 And that may be also why there are so many game boxes sent to the dumpsters: games with lower value get sent out to be replaced by games that sell faster... MAY BE.
I got fired from Gamestop for being honest about trade in credit gamestop rule is you have to to not say what the game is worth til the customer literally hands over the games BTW all Gamestop games unless it's one they don't get a lot of or only 5 or less months New or a trade in deal are all 10 percent of the price they charge power ups gets you up to an extra 5 to 10 percent terrible only go there if you wanna get old 360 games for 10 dollars or less
I currently work for GameStop, at least for another week (just put in my two weeks). I've worked there for three years. When hired, I was promised the SGA (Senior Game Advisor, third key) position and the manager that promised it to me (who also had very little video game knowledge) was fired two weeks later. I was then promised it again and had two NEW employees come in after me and get SGA positions. After three years, I still am nothing more than a lowly game (now "guest") advisor. And GameStop is now more corporate than ever. I actually used to be one of those guys that would say that GameStop isn't going any where any time in our lifetime, but with the way things are going right now and with GameStop being as far below profit predictions as they are, I don't see them lasting longer than five years.
(did not mean to hit enter) at Walmart they have a task guide that tells you how long it's supposed to take you to stock. It was full of shit! once it told me I had 15min to stock one side of the baking aisle by myself, specifically the side with the fruit cans that are always mixed up and a pain in the ass to stack cuz they fall over alot. As an example sometimes they would do what's called a blitz where they would send four or five people to one aisle to get it done quickly and at my store it was always the cereal aisle. according to that stupid guide it said that one person should be able to do the entire aisle in two hours yet it would take 5 people to do it in 2 hours. you not only had to stock the shelves but label the Overstock take it to the back room and put it on shelves and scan it in and then take care of the cardboard and other garbage. and yet still daily they hounded us about how terrible we were for not completing those times
holy shit dude Im sorry for spamming you with comments but here we are again on the same exact page of life! I too was a GameStop/eb games employee in 2005. Slightly less than a year. working through the holiday and the release of Xbox 360. it was so awful because I loved games. my manager did not. regular call of duty type bro. they totally took advantage of me and overworked me for minimum wage. they constantly pushed those stupid membership cards and pre orders and warranties. it really turned me off and bummed me out seeing the corporate side of things and I always viewed GameStop as something good. a videogame store. I fucking love video games. more than most things and it just sucked. obviously these days there's tons of videos showing GameStop's horrible practices, the dumpster hauls, trade in atrocities. not even going to get started on the hell that was the Xbox 360 release. again man keep up the rad vids. new favorite youtuber for sure. if I could request anything maybe like a top 10 or top 5 of your most unique or limited games, consoles, accessories etc. like just some of your favorite rad stuff in your collection? alright done with the comments for for now but each video i watch is like another chapter of life that I've gone through exactly! GameStop sucks, we are all forced to go there since they have it monopolized. anyone reading try and order online, find a small local store, and most importantly love and support gaming!
God damnit i miss gameXchange so much... i’m gonna go watch angry videogame nerd now... you’re right i’m gonna just stop supporting GameStop. The hole in the wall game store needs to come back. This fucking sucks.
Great video! (and great shirt) Your story feels similar to my own- I was an "acting" store manager at Blockbuster for about a year after being an assistant manager for 2 years. It's ridiculous when you're out there doing a great job running the store and then get passed over for someone from another store which is what happened to me too. I too was really passionate about working there because what gamer didn't love Blockbuster back then and I was so outraged when they decided not to make me store manager that I quit right then and there. THANK GOD I did because a couple weeks later I got a job game testing (they were hiring for the launch of the 360) and have now been doing QA for over 10 years and love it. Blockbuster is long gone now and things don't look great for Gamestop as you have talked about recently. Retail seems to be run by people who only look at sales and don't value employees with passion for what they sell, it's a shame. Thanks for sharing, love the channel.
When was the last time you heard something good about gamestop? No wonder why they are holding on by a thread. The funny thing is that they basically have a monopoly on basically all physical stores and yet they are failing. I hope my gamestop runs out of business and replaced with a real game store.
Joshua Alvarez not all corporations are bad to their employees, just gotta find the right one. I work for a large grocery store chain and they're awesome to us
Great point about many gamers who don't destroy their games and take very good care of them, no scratches ever, not wanting to buy the $3 protection disc plan. I always refused it no matter what for new games. Also didn't like going to buy a new game on release week, and being given the opened shelf copy case. I refused, as it was a gift and I bought it elsewhere brand new in the plastic wrap.
Man with your work ethics and your opinions on things (eg valuing being an expert in the field you work in, being honest about your opinion etc.), you're definitely going places! All the best and thanks for sharing!
I have two GameStops where I live (Carson City, NV); one on the north side of town and one on the south. The north side one is always a great experience. I've met two really good friends from there and one of them is just the absolute best and always helps my autistic nephew pick out games and tries to give him great discounts whenever he can. Sometimes, I drive to the one on the south end of town and man, their employees are so unfriendly and just overall treat people like crap. So, it's definitely a store-to-store thing.
I worked at GameStop as an assistant manager around the same time as you. I saw some of the same practices as well. At the time, employees were expendable and it was easy to get fired. So glad I got out of retail.
EB Games into GameStop Vet 02-06 on and off. VERY similar experience for myself as well. Worked OT, but the hours were slid to the next week and I just got to sit home. They paid zero OT. The GameStop I now frequent seems cool. 2019, 13 years of healing lol
sorry you had to go through that but it's a hard knock life sometimes. Blockbuster worked almost the exact same way. I worked there for about 6 months and left because I didn't want to rip off the customers. Got to admit that thief was pretty sly. lol
I bought a pre ordered game for 74$ beat it in two days was a crap game found it used two days after it came out for 20$. Took it back to them and they wanted to give me 2.50 for a two day old game I paid them 74$ for. Go to say never been back!
My girlfriend worked at one while we were in college. It was in a upscale mall geared toward rich tourists so the manager of the store made all the employees dress up like they’re going out to a trendy bar or club every day. She ended up getting fired for not meeting preorder quotas which was bs cause I had a bunch of our friends go to her. Haven’t bought from them since.
There were 3 gamestops in my town ( I guess technically 3 different towns ) but the furthest one was 5 miles from the other 1 it wouldn't take longer than 10mins driving from any of them to another one. 2 of them closed in the last 2-3 months
A "good friend" doesn't take advantage of you. Managers do.
Neither should.
My biggest regret with GameStop was my own stupidity and naiveness. I sold my GameCube and PS2 plus over 40 games for like $120 bucks. If i could go back in time for anything i wish i never sold my priceless collection of childhood memories.
J Bains same bro I had a wii and a bunch a games there like “we can 15$ cash or 20$ in store credit I took it tho
Agree. I stopped trading games from them for a decade now.
yepp regret selling my ps2 as well damit
hollywood 899 i had the ps2 way before i was even born. That was the first console I actually never wanted to get rid of. Now it’s softmodded and has a 1tb hard drive in it
I can relate 100%. I have since rebuilt my gaming library. I've been collecting a lot lately.
Only actual bad experience I've had at Gamestop was when I bought Skyrim. The guy who was checking me out asked if I wanted to buy the strategy guide with it, which was like 30-40 bucks or something it seems. I said no, and he told me I'd never get the full experience of the game without it since there was so much shit to do. I told him that was alright, I'd figure as much of it out on my own as I could, thats what made the game so fun. He said that was stupid and that I was wasting my money buying the game without the strategy guide, I chuckled and we argued some more. Eventually I got tired of him and said something like, "If I need to look something up I'll just use the internet, it's free and better than your stupid book. Have you ever heard of TH-cam?". He got pissed and another employee had to come and take over for him. Never went back to that store after. Have pretty much only used Amazon to buy games since.
+Psychedelic Turns out the internet was more useful
+Psychedelic WHY? Like the guy said the internet exists. Making every printed strategy guide ever useless now.
+chadeddie he must have REALLY needed that upsale.
If you didn't want to spend the money on the guide, just say so. Don't use an excuse and say "I enjoy the experience of looking around aimlessly".
Guides are more of a collector's thing now. I remember back then, I would buy guides for games I would have trouble with. I would even look through some Nintendo Power mags for tips and cheat codes if I needed help. With the Internet, it is more helpful.
I hate to be the devil's advocate, but people at Gamestop are persistent for a reason. If they can't upsell you or sell pre-orders, they lose money and people get written up. I remember my local GS store I would go into are filled with the coolest, chilled employees. Occasionally though, I would get asked to sign up for a credit card, asked if I wanted to pre-order the latest CoD (lulz), or asked to sign up for the Pro membership.
Gamestop, unlike typical video game shops and mom n pop stores, are more about the business/retail than the actual games. You can't expect to walk into a Gamestop and *not be upselled* on something. I know GS has pulled some shitty practices in the past and are still somewhat shit today, but not all GS stores are bad.
This is one of the reasons you should support mom and pop shops whenever possible.
I agree.
There was a small used game store here in town that opened up a few years ago, couple of young guys and what looked like their personal collection, very small hole in the wall store. used to go in and buy a little something here and there, was in there one day and had my eye on a used ds game, they wanted like $2 more than I had in my pocket. I asked if they'd accept the $2 less, they refused, fair enough it's their store their prices, whatever but I couldn't help but feel ganked that they'd stick it so hard over a mere couple of dollars, i had to think that the money i offered would have been preferable to the game just sitting on the shelf unsold, which it did for literal years after.
It just stuck in my craw, still dropped by occasionally but always had that gank gnawing at me, never bought anything again, last time I drove by there the storefront was empty.
Hope that stupid ds game tastes good with mayo cause you can eat THAT.
@1philfloable I never did get that game although for some reason i did watch the launch trailer the other week and it still looked cool
Facts
@@matthewridgway8374 what game was it?
Mom and pop shops are where you can find discontinued systems like dreamcast and ps vita, both underrated consoles of our generation!
Game stop today is a lot like blockbuster in the past. They are living on borrowed time unless the fix their treatment of customers and workers alike, and find new, inventive ways of making money aside from selling preorders.
True story!
Charlie Ross don't you ever compare GameStop to blockbuster again lol
GameStop is going bankrupt I give them another year ...
@@BMesa1 I miss Blockbuster
No they don’t need to fix anything. They need to go out of business.
I hate game stop they drove out good and honest video game stores like Game Crazy out of my town.
I despised them as a little kid and I still despise them to this day.
They WILL go out of business and nobody is going to say otherwise.
Don’t even say anything like they need to change.
They need to leave.
Now
"power to the player" more like "give us your money"
+purplefreak3 more like "power to the dumpster diver"
+The Retro Tech Geek lmao
+The Retro Tech Geek lol
+purplefreak3 Technically, "power to the players" is correct. People have every right not to spend their money there, but they end up going and spending their money, anyway.
*Power to the businessmen who own these companies and are probably snorting cocaine in a Florida condo right about now.
The pushy sales tactics used at GameStop has completely turned me off of shopping at those types of stores completely.
I remember the first resale video games stores, where you were encouraged to tryout play a game before you bought it. They had every system hooked up to a TV and all you had to do was ask to play it. No pressure.
Corporate America has ruined so many simple pleasures in life. For shame.
+TightManlyPants Sad but true buddy
*Assistant to the District Manager
Dwight!
+Rawley Fear Dwight was assistant to the regional manager
+Rawley Fear MICHAEL! jim put my stapler in jello!
+Frejmarian Films ahhh TDWP lol
+Anthony Marquez i love u
I can't believe they wanted to fire you for getting a reach-around
I'm dying😂😂😂
The thing is I heard that exact same story from another TH-camr with the same punishment so I think he may have made that part up
@@jtmiller5393 what video are you talking about
JT Miller or it means that this is typical of how gamestop operates. Which wouldn’t surprise me at all given everything else thats known about their shady business practices.
😂
Wouldn't a store with enthusiastic, trustworthy game experts, be more appealing to customers?
That doesn't make money and the bottom line is always going to be: money. GameStop isn't the only place like this. It's everywhere in retail and the food industry. You're a cog in the machine. Easily replaceable because that's how it's meant to be.
It does but that doesnt get you money.
They are also always on prime real estate, so above and beyond profit, they need to make rent, too? o.0
Seems there’s a lot of shortsightedness in their management. It absolutely would increase customer trust which is better long term. There are other business that treat their employees better and are thriving nowadays.
"Acting Assistant Manager" = Do all the shit and have the responsibility without getting paid for it.
+chuck manson Exactly. I was young and dumb. haha
We all fall for those titles at work
I worked at Gamestop on two occasions, for Christmas seasons in 1999 and 2006. The first one went fairly well, but I got disciplined for always chatting up customers about games instead of focusing on sales. Pretty soon, they had me in the back of the store wrapping used systems, away from the customers. I was basically a stocker and nothing else; it was very disappointing. My manager Jeremy basically fired me shortly after, using a lame "the season's over" excuse. My experience in 2006 was roughly the same; I stocked games, ran the register, and sometimes wrapped things in the back. But it was a very small store, and their organization was horrible. My coworkers insisted on keeping the front display nice, but the drawers were chaotic, and a lot of games were smudged or scratched. I got sick about a week before Christmas, but called them up after getting better...only to be told they didn't need me anymore. Frankly, it surprises me they're still in business; I hate the fact they constantly rip people off. Selling a new game for $50, buying it back for $10, and then re-selling it for $45 is absolute BS.
I agree.
Moviefan2k4 I feel like Game Stop actively goes against employees who don't strictly focus on sales, even if they're talking about games to said person to get them interested in games.
One of the coolest Game Stop employees I ever met introduced me to SMT, which is now one of my favorite JRPG series. I went to the store trying to buy games like Final Fantasy 3 and Rogue Galaxy, which the store didn't have in stock. So, noticing I liked JRPGs, the guy showed me Persona 4 and SMT 3 Nocturne, which I fell in love with, and I ended up buying a whole bunch more ps2 era SMT games.
Sadly, I never saw him again after that, and it's unfortunate cause he gave a shit about what he was doing.
CrimsonOptics
Yep, that pretty much sums up Gamestop's mentality. The owners don't seem to care about anyone beyond their wallets; its very sad, actually.
From what I have been reading that's how they made their money. To me, if I was selling games I wouldn't buy it for £10, £20 but not £10.
Moviefan2k4 fact
25 to life, a game so good its the first time i've ever heard about it ;)
exactly and I have been playing video games since 1997 or 1999
It's just a GTA clone, more specifically, a San Andreas one.
Jetto Agu but it was shit San Andreas was better than 25 to life
Diana Davidson But of course, not even on the same level.
Jetto Agu exactly San Andreas was a top notch game while 25 to life was a game a person could shit on and no one will actually care
Just saw this...when you start a story with "I was a pharmacy technician" gets you an automatic subscription. Right in the feels. Great stuff man, keep up the good work!
Before the Power up rewards card it was the EB edge card. Until they merged everything.
Hey Nick!
Yes!! I used to love getting edged at eb games.
Its still Edge card in Canada
I've worked at several game stores here in the UK, and if there's one thing I learned from it, it's that the management generally have no idea how game retail works. The average customer in a games store knows exactly what they want, especially so today. Trying to sell a game to a customer that they didn't come into the store to buy is largely futile. The only time your knowledge of the games market comes into play is when you are helping a customer who has little to no knowledge of it, such as a parent buying a gift for their kid. Even then, in those cases, your sale is going to be based on a coin toss. All you can tell them is what is popular in the demographic the intended recipient is in, and make a recommendation from that. The thing is, the company will base their incentives on selling a particular game. The market simply doesn't work that way. The problem is all too often interpreted by management as a lack of skill or knowledge in the employes, when in reality, the problem is that you can't convince someone to buy something they didn't already intend to buy without putting on a hell of a lot of pressure or lying. Both will push customers away.
+Yella Dart Agreed!
your a stand up guy. morals count
+Paris Barksdale thank you
I've got SO MUCH to comment on about this that I might actually make a video of my own. I worked for gamestop from 04-09 from lowly peeon to manager and I feel your pain times 1000.
#1 thing I've got to comment, is that when i started, it was EB games and we were merging with gamestop, who was a smaller company at the time. They held back all promotions on purpose so that they wouldnt have to pay us as much. EB assistant managers started at 12$ an hour. Game stop? 8$ (NY min wage was 7)
Basically, I agree w your dislikes and I raise them to hatred. There is so much shit there. SO MUCH.
+Katie Cakez Make the video, people are really interested in Gamestop's corporate structure and practices.
Make the video bro sounds very interesting
I'm not a bro. but ok
+Katie Cakez Yeah make it. I'll share it.
lol ok ok next week!!
my worst experience was years ago when Rogue Squadron 2 for gamecube finally dropped in price. I went to pick it up, and the gamestop employee asked if i had preordered it. i laughed and said no. the employee then went on and on about how i should have preordered it. after he finally finished his rant, i told him to look at the game I'm buying... it had been out for a year. he shrunk down and just cashed me out without saying anything else.... except of course to ask if i wanted to preorder anything coming on the horizon. I just laughed and told him "definitely not after what you just put through for a year old game!" Never went back to that store.
Honestly next time that happens ask for either manager or district manager
I know what Gamestop Reward card was called before Power Up Rewards. It was called the Edge card.
I was an acting Store Manager at my GameStop, I had started as a holiday hire and it took me 4 years to work my way up to that title and I just left about half a year ago. The upper management NEVER knew about games, they were only focused on making money. My best store managers were the ones who didn't care, the ones who did were awful. I saw people quit their jobs or get fired over the dumbest things, like consistently not meeting pre-order or pro-membership goals. The last thing they want you to do is to be honest about the games, they don't think customer loyalty is worth it (I had this argument with a lot of district managers). When I left they were offering me a permanent store manager position at a different GameStop store, but when I asked who would take my store and what would happen to the employees that I had trained and worked with at my store, I learned most were planned to be let go. I turned in my two weeks immediately, I explained myself to my employees and apologized to them, and most of them left, and most of my customer loyalty left with me.
Point is: GameStop hasn't changed. The people who work there aren't always bad, and you shouldn't blame them, but they are always under a lot of pressure to meet unreasonable goals at the risk of their job. Just as an example, the 2015 holiday pre-order goals were laughable! I was expected to get over 500 pre-orders of CoD in 2 months, that store averaged a couple hundred at most in years past.
Another thing: next time you walk into a GameStop, check out how many cameras you see on the sales floor and which direction they're facing in. In my store, there was one on the sales floor and it was pointing BEHIND the counter at the employees, half the store wasn't on camera. There was another three in the back room. Anything goes wrong, and an employee will get blamed and fired for it. Out of all the places I've worked, GameStop was the quickest I've ever seen to turn on it's own.
+PrettyThings I got a notice in the mail last year about GameStop losing a class action suit filed against them for not paying a lot of the seasonals during the 2014 holiday season (when I worked for them, although they did pay me).
PrettyThings tl;dr
There was this one store that used to be around here called Game Mania. I think not many people worked there (maybe 2-4) and it was a small store, but they really knew their stuff, and always made sure whatever I bought, I was happy with. They also had an arcade cabinet in the store, and they would occasionally swap the game in it. Games like MvC2, MK, even Thrill Kill, and I remember them challenging me to matches :D
+Neon Pegasus That's awesome. Sounds like my kinda spot!
There is an another game store at the flea market nearby my house call All Games Matter. They sell both new and preowned games. From any consoles even N64.
I was recently "terminated" from GS as a stand-in-keyholder after 3 years there.
My hiring store manager got a transfer out of state 3 months after hiring me for getting into a fist fight with a Senior Game Advisor (shift manager) off the clock. His replacement transferred in to prove he had what it takes to be a District manager; when year one was over he asked about promotion ops and they said give it another 3 months. He worked it and they said another three months, so he turned in his 2-weeks. Just about the same time, another local Store Manager was being fired for going to the conference in Vegas, getting an XB1 and PS4 for free and turning in her notice. Our Assistant Store Manager was sent over to ASM the other store while the ASM from that store became SM. ...we had no store manager for 1.5 months and the 3rd on line became ASM and acting SM. He was planning on getting married in a different part of the states and could not give less of a fuck about the store. After corporate figured that out, they got another SM for us (if you're keeping track that's #3). She tried hard but didn't have a clue. The ASM left to get married, and we got a really good ASM replacement. Then corporate made demands the SM wasn't willing to enforce, so she quit and moved out of state.
Our 4th store manager had no experience with games or gamestop as a company, but was hired because of his experience selling T-mobile phones. He didn't do shit. Literally, he would come in 20 minutes early, go out back to the office and order a pizza for lunch. He would tell SGAs to do dangerous and unethical things, and tell us not to clean up small messes out back because they hid the larger problems the DM would "bitch at [him] about." We'd report him to the HeroLine, but the DM didn't want to be bothered. After a year of his bullshit, the ASM (that ended up doing both ASM and SM duty at a ASM pay) had enough and turned in his 2-weeks along with a posted letter to the Corporate office of the Regional Manager (the DM's boss).
Slacker SM asked his SGAs if they wanted the job and they all refused. Then he asked me and the other GAs. We said no. So he called the DM to get a transfer from other stores and they all politely refused. So the DM authorized Slacker SM to hire off the street for his ASM.
He hired an ASM and almost immediately got fired.
...so now the store had no SM, a few SGAs, a newb ASM, myself, and a few GAs.
Corporate brings the original ASM that we lost to the other store back as our SM (at least they got that part right).
A month in, I see the rookie ASM violating policy and just a friendly warning. Ultimately, I get written up for insubordination.
I avoid going in when he's there, so I don't have to make something of it. I go to another close by and see some employees goofing off instead of working. ...but it's not my store so who gives a damn, right? Well, the SGA on duty felt "intimidated" by my catching her in the act and reports me.
and that's how I got terminated at Gamestop for knowing too much.
+Tristan Toole Dude, that is incredibly hard to read.
+Kharn526 DM: District Manager
SM: Store Manager
ASM: Assistant Store Manager
SGA: Senior Game Advisor (shift manager)
GA: Game Advisor (employee)
Oh no, not that , I mean the wall of text, sorry ! it was hard to keep my eyes on the line I was reading. Might be TH-cam I dont know.
+Kharn526 oh okay. Yeah, I wasn't super impressed the last 2 years.
lol :)
I worked for Radio Shack (my it rest in piss) part time back in the mid-90's. Same nonsense.
I remember those hahhaa
I've never heard of them
Kind of late to the party here but I've been watching your videos for awhile. Sorry to hear your story, bro. I fully agree that a person in a higher power should have a knowledge and a love for video games. If it wasn't for corporate you would've been an amazing gaming associate! Your knowledge and passion for the games speaks to the gamers like myself. I love your videos. You're awesome!
thank you bud
that kid that stole the games is smart asf lmao
Mason M apparently not
was pretty ballsy but i think now most games are kept under the desk in lock and key not out in the open
Working retail is always a balance of ethics and paychecks. It sucks
That's very poetic
Now gamestop stock are 4.88 and descending!
This aged poorly
I worked at GameStop for about 7 years, starting from Game Advisor up to Store Manager. You were spot on about not getting enough preorders and subs in a given day and just caused unnecessary stressed. I'm sorry your experience ended so badly, but it was most likely for the best! Great video!
I work upper-middle/middle management and I think this is so valuable to hear for people at any organization. Dude, finding a motivated member is the hardest thing in the world for any business to get, and it's a shame that they burnt you out with b.s. I keep this in mind day to day, but it sucks that at the end of the day, senior management is going to do what it feels necessary to make spreadsheets looking good. I think this is why (specifically for the gamestops of the world) people need to know that their dollars matter and where they get games drives business practices. Don't like gamestop being sleazy? go to that mom and pop store that sells it for a couple dollars more! Glad you have a successful TH-cam channel so you can do what you are passionate about!
IDK why everyone seems to think so much of gamestop that they get freaked out when they hear stories like this. Work for just about any other corporation and you will get the same treatment.
+hk4124 Exactly. You are there to work. Not to have fun. Your priority is to sell and promote whatever a company is telling you to sell. You hate the company for firing your coworker/friend for stealing a $200 gift card? You stole money from your workplace. That's a terrible worker. Imagine if you owned a store and someone stole your store's money? It doesn't exactly feel good.
I agree and if you open your OWN game shop you will work MORE hours and make less.
Eh, Gamestop is pretty much the only company I've heard of who screws over their employees and treats customers like shit.
***** Well you mush have never been to/worked at a Walmart then. Amazon treats employees like crap and most of the CSAs are terrible with customers
hk4124 I am talking about local retail stores. Amazon is online and I don't count it. I've never worked at a Walmart and I've been to one. The only thing that's distasteful is the long lines and unhelpful employees.
I always wondered how it was like working for GameStop, and thank you for sharing your story. GameStop is just another corporation, and pretty much just looks at performance "numbers" and their overalls, it is a sad but the truth of the real world. It is really cool to know that you work in the Pharmacy as a technician. A coincidence is, I also work in the Pharmacy. I have seen pictures of you being in a pharmacy on your Facebook, and was curious. Great story telling and reflection of your GameStop working experience. :)
I got lucky with a left joy con from launch day. Got a new one without the right joy con no charge. Since my right joycon works just fine.
Id say about 10% of the GS stores have issues like that. Myself and Every person I know that works for GS loves their jobs and always talks about how fun it is to work there. The management is great and the customer service is outstanding and our surveys have to proof to show that. Ive heard bad storys like this from people that work for Best buy, HHGREG, Walmart, radio shack, etc... These are issues that can happen at any retail job but bc of the popularity of GS and how well known it is you hear more storys about them. If you have a problem with
I know things are probably different now, but look up a series of videos called “The Dirty Truth About Gamestop” by Zero Originality. Every word of those videos is true circa 2006-2008. Even the ComCash card.
Oh boy. I share your pain and will in turn share a story that really irked me when it came to working at GameStop. I worked at GameStop for almost three years (May 2011 to March 2014). I started as a Game Advisor before the summer started in 2011. When 2012 came around (April I believe), management wanted to add two Senior Game Advisors because a couple guys moved away. They pretty much just asked us Game Advisors that were there who would be interested. I had some semblance of seniority over the holiday guys, but I wasn't interested because I was going to college at the time and I didn't need the added responsibility of being a Senior Game Advisor. So, one of the holiday guys started training for the position and another more experienced Game Advisor took the other.
Fast forward another year later and I'm done with college and ready to progress more in the store. One of the SGAs left as he moved out of state and there was a position open. I was being trained to be the next SGA and was told repeatedly that I was taking that position. When May 2013 came around, it was my full year review. I was then told that I would not be getting the SGA position because they were promoting a coworker of mine instead. Why? Because she was getting more PowerUp memberships and reserves than I was. Admittedly, I never really believed in that business practice and was never aggressive with selling that stuff to customers. I knew it was annoying as did the assistant store manager.
But the fact that they were passing me up in favor of my coworker who got them numbers is what really pissed me off. I was being trained for the position. I had the experience. I had the knowledge of the company, video games, and video game industry. To be passed up for someone who was barely there for a year (compared to my two years), didn't pay attention to ongoings within the video game industry and how well newly released video games were doing, and who wasn't being trained for the position was quite frankly insulting. Instead, I got a measly thirty-five cent raise and (while still being assured that my continued work there was appreciated) was only working six to ten hours a week. I was only making eight dollars and twenty-five cents an hour.
I learned a very real, yet very harsh lesson that year: when it comes to jobs (unless this is your dream career and your company is wonderful), NEVER SETTLE. Don't do what I did. Do not become complacent and think that things will progress because you are loyal and work hard. Keep applying, keep researching, keep yourself available for other companies. If there are better opportunities out there that you know that you qualify for, apply to them. Keep bettering yourself because if a company only cares about their bottom line, then they will not mind stepping on you and letting someone else who gets their desired numbers join them in doing so.
TH-cam cut you off :-)
That IS an important lesson. One of my favorite quotes is "Make game of that which makes as much of thee." Companies have decided to make employees expendable, and manipulate them like pawns in a game. The only appropriate response to that is to treat jobs as expendable, and manipulate companies like pawns in your own game. Anything else is just a fast road to misery.
Pro Gamer. You weren't selected because you weren't good enough. Just like now you'll never be good enough. Somebody who has the balls will always get picked over you. Sucks but maybe you should put in some effort and earn shit instead of crying like a little bitch that somebody who was better than you at your job got the promo
Wow. You really had to dive back into the comments to find one where you can call someone "a little bitch" because they had a bad experience at GameStop. How pathetic. It's funny that you think I'm crying over this when I'm currently working full-time at better pay and just wanted to share my experience with GameStop that happened over two years ago. So you'll excuse me if it sounds like I took things too close to the heart. GameStop was my only source of income and I dedicated a lot of time to that company during my college years and was promised the position repeatedly.
How would you feel if you were consistently told that you were being trained for a position higher than your current one and told multiple times that you are going to get it only to get the rug swept from under you because your leaders ended up favoring a less experienced worker who met their forceful sales goals? I even admitted that I hated pushing the PowerUp memberships and reserves. So, yeah, it would be partially my fault that I didn't get the numbers they wanted, but they are even more at fault for leading me on for a month and a half promising me the SGA position.
Think on this: They wouldn't have dedicated the time to train me if I wasn't "good enough". I had the balls to take on the assignment and they knew I was ready. I was willing to earn my way up. They just ended up favoring numbers over experience. That is a very sad reality for a lot of businesses. You can bust your ass and know the company, but that won't be seen as valuable as the almighty dollar.
Chances are you won't read through this whole thing, but I figure if you're that desperate to get a reaction from someone on TH-cam given that you replied to a comment from back in April I guess a reply would suffice for you. Nice try at trolling for a negative reaction, though.
Pro Gamer. Bro I am going into Games too and hearing what you had to say is a Godsend bro. Because of you and a few others including RTG 85(Sorry if I butchered your name) I will be able to start with open eyes instead of going in thinking Gamestop is made of sugar and spice, and everything nice. But even though I am thankful for your wise words I cannot say I will hate my gamestop. I mean they have always been helpful, they never push pre-orders on us, always help us really well with finding what we want. So in the end even if my experience is all good, I have you to thank for allowing me to say that won't always be the case :)
I hate companies that bluntly take advantage of young people's naivety, desperation, passions, etc to make them work harder and longer but pay them as little as possible. They make a written strategy for doing just that to push every dollar for the corporation.
I use to have a friend who had a retro store, I worked there and he did the same shit gamestop did, after while I told him how he cannot rip people off and lie, I quit and started my own translation business and now he's out of business.
What do you translate?
RetroGamingTube85, I hope you see this. You still get in trouble at gamestop if you do not get enough preorders. Also, alot of customers get scolded if they cancel preorders due to the fact it reflects negatively on the employee who cancels said preorder. Gamestop is trash
Dude Gamestop stopped tracking preorders a while ago. if you work there watch the tv when you open or close, its all about bottom line beating your goals in profit by taking care of the customers and making the right decisions. if youre not strong at pre orders then focus on pre owned or GPGs. like i said its all about the end result of bearing plan
+LoVeL355 do they pay you to come on here and talk up their agenda? what if he doesnt want to trick people in vuying game informer subscriptions?
+Chris Smith no they dont pay me to get on here on talk. But I have a good store with a tight knit team. You guys hate on us, but we do a lot for our community at our store so my area is pretty cool with us. you have to remember though that we are a business, if you cant sell things we need then maybe it isnt the job for you. You dont have to push things ur not good at like maybe power up, but you have to be good at selling something, otherwise why hire you?
+LoVeL355 not to mention the pro card isnt a bad deal at all if you buy games often. yeah you get the magazine, but all the coupons that go in there that get you money off preowned games and stuff. those pay for card itself
+Chris Smith He's an idiot and I know for a fact they rage if you cancel. It happened to me about 3 months ago. You should have seen the look on this guys face, that if I canceled satan was going to appear with a flaming pitchfork and roast him.
Playstation and Nintendo have their own online stores with their own sales. Corporate Gamestop is floundering and I couldn't care less. Although, I see they're turning to selling game merchandising like figures, plushies, and shirts, which is the only smart thing I can think of doing in a business that's being drowned out by digital sales.
+furseisekilulz True
Did you ever see SilentRob's rant on working in GameStop?
He ended up being assaulted by a customer for selling out of a game that they had pre-ordered.
But I worked in a EB Games in the UK in 1995, during the PS1 launch. Place was a absolute nightmare. I got the exact same shitty treatment you did.
+Larry Bundy Jr Jesus, no I haven't. I need to check that out!
RetroGamingTube 85
It might be on the ShaunD1 channel, but he managed to even get the security camera footage of it for the video.
But he got beaten up thanks to GameStop's shitty demands.
th-cam.com/video/2JSszY6wPVo/w-d-xo.html found it.
Thanks for your honesty . I enjoyed listening to the stories and your reactions to the way that your bosses treated you. Great job with continually saying, "That was how it was years ago". Kudos.
Ever notice one ex staff members story is exactly the same as every other ex member of staff lol
+Boon Doggle lol cuz it's not a great place
RGT 85 That what I'm feeling lol
German GameStop staff are kind and very well informed about games and consoles.
If you wanted to buy a Wii U when it was still relevant the staff would tell you it flopped and isn’t worth it, they told customers to wait for the PS4 Pro instead of getting the Slim a month before the Pro came out.
When you want to sell games they tell you how much you can get and what they’ll sell it for if you ask kindly. (If anyone wants to know)
They have awesome trade in offers, games for insanely cheap prices weeks after release or even on release (we got South Park Fractured but whole for roughly 30 USD at release in some stores)
I don’t know about corporate America but in Germany GameStop’s rule and the staff is very kind and does a great job, I never asked about their paychecks but I heard from friends who applied there it’s above minimum wage.
I agree that they are friendly and helpful.
My main problem with GameStop Germany (and in other countries) is the pricing model. I tried several times sell used games there, but they pay you only like 10-20% of the price for used games. I could easily get the same or more at eBay.de. Why sell a game for 3-4 Euros when later GameStop will sell it at 20? Therefore, I gave up on selling my games there, and instead took the few Euros from selling directly to other gamers. And they lost everything cent of my used games.
Another problem I see is the "birthday bonus/gift card". Since my German wasn't that good, I thought I had received per email a 5 Euros discount when buying a game, but instead I was explained by the guy working at shop that I would only get 5 extra Euros when selling games (for low prices). Other shops like Saturn or MediaMarkt would give a code grating a 10 Euros discount if you spend 50 Euros (or 20 for 100 Euros spent). What kind of birthday present is that from GameStop. I have never used that "gift card" for many years, so that GameStop doesn't even send me that email anymore.
Other point is the new games pricing model. GameStop has frequently new games 5-10 Euros more expensive than any other retailer (Saturn, MediaMarkt, Amazon DE, etc). They live in a past where perhaps internet and smartphones were not around to let customer shop for better deals. Plus, buying new games gives you half of the fidelity points than buying used games. I spend easily 500 Euros a year in games (since I have PC, Xbox One S, One X, PS4 + VR, Switch, 3DS, PS Vita and Xbox 360), but not a single cent spent at GameStop since like 2 years.
Another problem is discounting games price. After a game has been out for 3-6 months the price normally goes down 20-30%, but GameStop is normally the last to lower their price. They probably lose a lot of sales from people waiting for a game to get discounted. I frequently saw games sold used at GameStop for more money than new at Saturn or MediaMarkt. For a shop specialised in games they should understand better when to discount a game, and not worse.
At last is the fidelity program Gamestop+? What a joke. You must spend around 4000 Euros in used games (or double in new games) to reach level Epic (level 4), and you don't even get free shipping after that. Saturn's fidelity card requires you to spend 2500 Euros with several advantages and bonuses (like free shipping, extra warranty, etc). After spending around +2000 Euros at GameStop I haven't even reached level 3 (and currently sitting at 79% of level 2). This fidelity program is a joke.
Again, I'm not critiquing GameStop Germany alone since I imagine that this must be the norm worldwide, but based on my experiences in Germany I'm done with GameStop DE. The employees are normally very good and friendly, but the company policies and prices exploit gamers/customers in every possible way.
ALSO I'm in an area where there were 25 YES TWENTY FIVE, game stops in a 5 mile radius. We opened a new store in a horrid area for retail (basically everything that went into this shopping centre closed in 6 months) and all I got was shit for the fact that we didn't get business. I mean, I was doing 50$ a day if I was lucky. They asked ME to pay out of my OWN pocket for advertising!!! Ugh...so much wrong.
+Katie Cakez Damn! That's rough hun.
nicely done on your video, o wait its 25 gamestops now ? lmao jk
they asked you to pay to even the checkbooks? can they legally do that?
That's against the law, I hope that you quit after that. Employees cannot pay for advertising at all because it's supposed to come out of the store's budget
That’s awful.
This guy is great! really enjoyed your story and subscribed. hope to see more great content, epic collection behind you is dope
The edge card! I worked for gamestop back in 2015
12:06 they should keep those in a locked compartment behind the counter at all times. And there should be at least two employees working there at all times
Corporations want you to be a robot. Don't be a robot and have your opinions, and your customers would appreciate that. They want to see character.
Exactly
My OCD screams at your leaning games
It's like that at petco about the pre-ordering thing. We always have to push these treats or food that isn't even that healthy and if you don't you get in a lot of trouble
What?! Thats insane. IT's pets! lol
RGT 85 yeah I got written up because at petco we have a "wellness room" where all the sick and overstock animals go, we had 3 hamsters in the room that all had been surrenders and they had been there for a week and our animal specialist (lady that does animal checks) said they need to be gone and we have a week. Well they weren't gone and I told her I'm not just going to be passing our hamsters on the side of the road and I got in huge trouble for that.
Brooklyn P lmaoooo
“If you don’t pre order these cookies, your dog dies” 😂😂
I follow you on you tube because you honest and blunt when it comes to videos game reviews .. it shows you have a lot of honestly and integrity.. thanks for being
Honest in your review and such .
Sorry to hear you went through that man. I'm glad you rose above all that nonsense and held on to you love love for video games.
"You're not special at GameStop as an employee" or customer.
+JACKYL ℠ not at all
GameStop is a great company to work for if you're looking to gain management experience but there are two BIG drawbacks: 1) the company doesn't develop you afterwards to make you a better employee (i.e. an asset), which in turn 2) creates a cutthroat environment among its associates. This allows the company to use the novelty of its product to attract and retain employees, but since there is no training the cost is very little if associates quit or get fired. The pay, therefore, is commensurate with your perceived value, which as you can see, is very little.
+giantproof Agreed!
Not even for management experience. You're better off going elsewhere to be a manager, apparently the Ceo doesn't even know how to run the company. I haven't been there in a long time, don't care to return to shop there either.
I dont think I know anyone that works or worked at gamestop that is not an assistant manager! That title dont mean a damn thing! It is just a feel good title! To them you were just a piece of crap employee with a fancy title. My gamestop had 4 employees one manager and 3 assistant managers that pretty much means you are nothing! Gamestop is a very corrupt company and is all about getting all the money they can and dont care that they are ripping people off big time.
+Gene O okey, what you are saying "And is all about getting the money" is literally what a business is for, making money, then there are long term plans the pay of less but over a long time and the short term plan that gets you money quick but you will loose all the customers fairly quick GS is doing the short term plan
Game stop is nothing but a scam period! And they push them pre orders like they are going to run out in 5 mins, It is only to guarantee that store makes the sale unless there is some limited edition crap coming with a game stop pre order. It means nothing it is just a way for management to be in the employees ass because if they dont sell enough you WILL be fired! And trust me EVERYONE does get fired from game stop eventually!! And their slogan "POWER TO THE PLAYERS" BULL SHIT they dont give a damn about the players just their money The last time I was in game stop was to pick up my PS4 on launch night! There is some dirty behind the scenes things going on there that would make your head spin. You wold think it is an innocent game store but you are seriously WRONG!
Gene O yeah, but still 90% of all the world companies are like that?
Because WE THE PEOPLE have let them get this far out of control just like our fucked up government. We keep buying from and supporting them instead of opening to old fashion mom and pop stores. It is pathetic what our country has become in just the past 25 years. Anyways back to gamestop everyone I know that ever worked there has pretty much the exact story it is almost like they are given a script from the time they start to the day they get screwed in the end. I dont even know a manager that has worked there for more then 3 years. (and he got fired also) you are better off working at McDonalds and that is NO JOKE!! I will never buy another thing from gamestop!
Gene O me neither stopped buying games from them except a special version of NHL, other than that i think it was 3 years since i bought something from there nowadays its either downloads or other stores (Y)
Hey it was great hearing about this. I worked at a place called Rogers Video in Canada. Video and game rental / sales. Was fun times. Your story made me happy how nice it was there... We even got our own picks section for a while. That was cool...
I wanted so bad to have my own selection of picks. lol.
Thanks for sharing bro I didn't think I would listen all the way through but your experience was very interesting. Sorry you went through what you did
Gain respect from a customer that is the professional approach that will give you base customers
I try and do it with my channel as well. lol
I have never even HEARD of 25 to Life... lol
Only big name PS2 games that I remember are GTA and Black. Black was sick. Best FPS on PS2.
Jak and daxter? Rachet and clank?
+Garnet Bezanson battlefront was awesome
Shadow of the (motherfucking) Colossus?
+Ian Brown kingdom hearts? dark cloud? sly cooper?
*****
Never got the chance to play it but many said it was amazing
My last visit to GameStop (years ago)
"Hey man, wanna preorder PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale?"
"Why would I preorder a videogame? That makes zero sense, I'm a retro collector. I came here to see if you have a copy of Need For Speed Most Wanted for 360, the 2005 version."
"Well, so you can guarantee yourself a copy!"
"Dude, every store sells games now. I can just guarantee myself a copy by shopping around if I wanna pay full price for a brand new game. We don't need you for that. We need you for used games. Now, do you have a copy of the game I asked about?"
+Jarod Roach lol such a random game too. Like was that really going to sell out?
Finally, a proper model for the video game store
It's a good thing you refused to get or pre order ps all stars
Yeah. Pre-ordering only makes sense for things that have limited stock or might not be available in your area/store.
For example, I live in a smaller city. We have a Wal-Mart, but not a very big/well diverse selection one. So, before Rick and Morty got huge, I would have to pre-order the Seasons on Blu-Ray other wise online would run out of their limited stock and our physical store never had it, only the DVD version.
Another example was a few years ago, an obscure show I really enjoyed as a kid finally had a fully series release on DVD, and our local store wouldn't carry it and I knew it would have limited stock online, as it wasn't extremely popular/known.
A better game example might be what Wood at BeatEmUps does for Eshop games that get a limited physical release. Or, what some people do for rarer amiibo figures
Basically, if the product is rare or has limited stock, definitely pre-order, if you can. But, if you're just looking at buying the next CoD or Whatever, I guarantee you that every store near you will be selling it. Not to mention your Console's digital store will be selling it as well, if you prefer to go that route.
Only one time i wished i preordered a game was Last of Us literally the day it was released i couldn't find a single copy in store i was really pissed i ended up just buying it digitally anyway now the likely hood of a game shortage is slim to none and if their is you might as well just download it on XBL or PSN the only reason i preorder games now is like a savings account put some money into it week after week until i have the whole amount of the game covered
I havent worked at gamestop but i have worked at retail places that sound just like that. It does suck. Glad you found your passion for games again after that and you seem like you are happy and enjoy what you do here :)
Wow, middle of 2005 to 2006. I worked there from 2005 to 2007 as a sales associate and I remembered an uniform policy (khakis or black slacks with dress or polo shirt). Currently, it's relaxed and workers can wear jeans. That's a huge change in my view.
Plus, pushing pre-orders sucked because corporate wanted the numbers.
I worked at game stop when. it was FUNCO LAND AND IT WAS AMAZING...
That story makes me so angry. Companies are supposed to support their staff when dodgy people do dodgy things. The fact that they tried to blame you for trading in those games - and essentially just doing your job - is infuriating.
Luckily, I've only ever had fantastic experiences working at video game stores. :)
+Alli Flanagan Must be better in Australia :P
Nice advertisse you got there. I subscribed to your channel ×D
love your shirt!!
I like your story.. And thank you for having the time to make a video of it.
GameStop is a better place in Ireland. The guy who was at the register while I was buying LBP 2 was pretty nice. He asked me if I want to get a game protection plan thing for 1 year for €2 extra. I said yes because who would not wan't to protect their most favourite game of all time? The game disc looks brand new.
That's good!
Well, think about it: Customer pre-orders game, customer pays, customer receives.
Customer plays, doesn't like, returns for a refund or store credit.
Store sells back as pre-owned with a profit of 300%+ since the game is still recent.
It's how they make most of their money.
RetroGamingTube 85 And that may be also why there are so many game boxes sent to the dumpsters: games with lower value get sent out to be replaced by games that sell faster...
MAY BE.
this dude lives in NC! that's what's up.
Yessuh!
I got fired from Gamestop for being honest about trade in credit
gamestop rule is you have to to not say what the game is worth til the customer literally hands over the games
BTW all Gamestop games unless it's one they don't get a lot of or only 5 or less months New or a trade in deal are all 10 percent of the price they charge
power ups gets you up to an extra 5 to 10 percent
terrible only go there if you wanna get old 360 games for 10 dollars or less
+HateDenny2010 Yeah last gen stuff is nice
The ironic thing is now that GameStop actually has a section on there website where you can look up the trade in value of any game under the sun.
The Perfect Eleven? Are you sure you didn't get fired for your slim understanding of the English language?
you're commenting a bad roast which is unnecessary because the comment is over a year old
that's all i go to gamestop for. buy used old 360 games. so am i getting screwed? where else can i go if not gamestop?
I appreciate your perspective of your experience. Seems well balanced, and non-ranting. Thank you for telling us your experience.
I currently work for GameStop, at least for another week (just put in my two weeks). I've worked there for three years. When hired, I was promised the SGA (Senior Game Advisor, third key) position and the manager that promised it to me (who also had very little video game knowledge) was fired two weeks later. I was then promised it again and had two NEW employees come in after me and get SGA positions. After three years, I still am nothing more than a lowly game (now "guest") advisor. And GameStop is now more corporate than ever.
I actually used to be one of those guys that would say that GameStop isn't going any where any time in our lifetime, but with the way things are going right now and with GameStop being as far below profit predictions as they are, I don't see them lasting longer than five years.
year one.....
I had similar problems when I work at Walmart. I was hired as a stocker at a severely understaffed store
(did not mean to hit enter) at Walmart they have a task guide that tells you how long it's supposed to take you to stock. It was full of shit! once it told me I had 15min to stock one side of the baking aisle by myself, specifically the side with the fruit cans that are always mixed up and a pain in the ass to stack cuz they fall over alot. As an example sometimes they would do what's called a blitz where they would send four or five people to one aisle to get it done quickly and at my store it was always the cereal aisle. according to that stupid guide it said that one person should be able to do the entire aisle in two hours yet it would take 5 people to do it in 2 hours. you not only had to stock the shelves but label the Overstock take it to the back room and put it on shelves and scan it in and then take care of the cardboard and other garbage. and yet still daily they hounded us about how terrible we were for not completing those times
That's crap!
holy shit dude Im sorry for spamming you with comments but here we are again on the same exact page of life! I too was a GameStop/eb games employee in 2005. Slightly less than a year. working through the holiday and the release of Xbox 360. it was so awful because I loved games. my manager did not. regular call of duty type bro. they totally took advantage of me and overworked me for minimum wage. they constantly pushed those stupid membership cards and pre orders and warranties. it really turned me off and bummed me out seeing the corporate side of things and I always viewed GameStop as something good. a videogame store. I fucking love video games. more than most things and it just sucked. obviously these days there's tons of videos showing GameStop's horrible practices, the dumpster hauls, trade in atrocities. not even going to get started on the hell that was the Xbox 360 release. again man keep up the rad vids. new favorite youtuber for sure. if I could request anything maybe like a top 10 or top 5 of your most unique or limited games, consoles, accessories etc. like just some of your favorite rad stuff in your collection? alright done with the comments for for now but each video i watch is like another chapter of life that I've gone through exactly! GameStop sucks, we are all forced to go there since they have it monopolized. anyone reading try and order online, find a small local store, and most importantly love and support gaming!
haha don't be sorry dude. Thanks for telling your story.
Sean Ridge
God damnit i miss gameXchange so much... i’m gonna go watch angry videogame nerd now... you’re right i’m gonna just stop supporting GameStop. The hole in the wall game store needs to come back. This fucking sucks.
Sounds like you should have waited for Steve in the parking lot.
+MechE11B lol right?
Great video! (and great shirt) Your story feels similar to my own-
I was an "acting" store manager at Blockbuster for about a year after being an assistant manager for 2 years. It's ridiculous when you're out there doing a great job running the store and then get passed over for someone from another store which is what happened to me too. I too was really passionate about working there because what gamer didn't love Blockbuster back then and I was so outraged when they decided not to make me store manager that I quit right then and there. THANK GOD I did because a couple weeks later I got a job game testing (they were hiring for the launch of the 360) and have now been doing QA for over 10 years and love it. Blockbuster is long gone now and things don't look great for Gamestop as you have talked about recently. Retail seems to be run by people who only look at sales and don't value employees with passion for what they sell, it's a shame. Thanks for sharing, love the channel.
GameStop is the Umbrella Corporation of video games ☠️💀
katamari kicks ass! cuz thats holl we ROLL!
I'm happy that Gamestop is hanging on by a thread.
+Sulfen Me too :)
When was the last time you heard something good about gamestop? No wonder why they are holding on by a thread. The funny thing is that they basically have a monopoly on basically all physical stores and yet they are failing. I hope my gamestop runs out of business and replaced with a real game store.
Sounds like my job. Gotta love corporate America.
Joshua Alvarez not all corporations are bad to their employees, just gotta find the right one. I work for a large grocery store chain and they're awesome to us
I can tell you it's just as bad working at gamestop in "non-corporate Sweden"
Great point about many gamers who don't destroy their games and take very good care of them, no scratches ever, not wanting to buy the $3 protection disc plan. I always refused it no matter what for new games. Also didn't like going to buy a new game on release week, and being given the opened shelf copy case. I refused, as it was a gift and I bought it elsewhere brand new in the plastic wrap.
I just can't help but smile at the thought of you being "Acting Ass Man" at GameStop :D
There is a reason I stopped going there when the name Funcoland left.
+KWKBOX I miss when you could go a mall and have EB, Babbages, Funcoland, and more all near eachother. Competition was good.
+RetroGamingTube 85 Ain't that the truth!
"Free goodie" ;) yeah sir hahaha
+MADagain lol nothing illegal
RetroGamingTube 85 HAHA
+RetroGamingTube 85 nah man, free favors aren't illegal, she gave consent right?
+MabiX7 wuh... wuh... wait, we are talking about games, right?
....right?
Man, I don't have a lot of video games from my childhood. I only kept my Genesis, DreamCast, and SNES
Those are great systems to have though
My childhood was mostly playing the Wii since it was my 1st gaming console.
Man with your work ethics and your opinions on things (eg valuing being an expert in the field you work in, being honest about your opinion etc.), you're definitely going places! All the best and thanks for sharing!
+Nick Hansbauer thank you buddy. And thanks for watching!
I have two GameStops where I live (Carson City, NV); one on the north side of town and one on the south. The north side one is always a great experience. I've met two really good friends from there and one of them is just the absolute best and always helps my autistic nephew pick out games and tries to give him great discounts whenever he can.
Sometimes, I drive to the one on the south end of town and man, their employees are so unfriendly and just overall treat people like crap. So, it's definitely a store-to-store thing.
You from NC? Heard mention of Fayetteville. Raleigh resident here!
I am!
And that's why I don't support that horrible company. Thanks for sharing your story
+Mizzah Tee Of course buddy
Just buy games online, great discounts and no taxes.
+Maximus Boulos true
I worked at GameStop as an assistant manager around the same time as you. I saw some of the same practices as well. At the time, employees were expendable and it was easy to get fired. So glad I got out of retail.
EB Games into GameStop Vet 02-06 on and off. VERY similar experience for myself as well. Worked OT, but the hours were slid to the next week and I just got to sit home. They paid zero OT. The GameStop I now frequent seems cool. 2019, 13 years of healing lol
sorry you had to go through that but it's a hard knock life sometimes. Blockbuster worked almost the exact same way. I worked there for about 6 months and left because I didn't want to rip off the customers. Got to admit that thief was pretty sly. lol
It's life. lol.
Long live funcoland
+Jason Siever Yessuh!
Hear ye. Bought my first PS1 there, dat childhood.
Ahh, thinking back on those wonderful glass doors full of gameboy games and Pokemon cards....teh feelz r 2 strong bro :'(
I bought a pre ordered game for 74$ beat it in two days was a crap game found it used two days after it came out for 20$. Took it back to them and they wanted to give me 2.50 for a two day old game I paid them 74$ for. Go to say never been back!
Fuck tht!
I highly doubt that.
1st no they did not. 2nd you will never get full price for trading in an old product anywhere fact.
My girlfriend worked at one while we were in college. It was in a upscale mall geared toward rich tourists so the manager of the store made all the employees dress up like they’re going out to a trendy bar or club every day. She ended up getting fired for not meeting preorder quotas which was bs cause I had a bunch of our friends go to her. Haven’t bought from them since.
Dope collection behind you, hopefully one day i can finish and place mine out like that.
Fayetteville, used to live there haha
+Tainted Gaming it's not great. Lol
nope.
Tainted Gaming Fayetteville NC?
yes
Makes me happy after hearing all these stories and horror tales that I decided to never pursue a career with that company.
Fayetteville NC? I'm originally from that shit hole lol.
+m473r1ck Carteret County, Atlantic Beach that's where I'm from.
+m473r1ck Yup!
Gaston county here!!! Right up the road.
Greensboro NC!! but it's a "ColeWorld"
I'm From Monroe Nc 💯😂
This video single handedly got me back into gaming
There were 3 gamestops in my town ( I guess technically 3 different towns ) but the furthest one was 5 miles from the other 1 it wouldn't take longer than 10mins driving from any of them to another one. 2 of them closed in the last 2-3 months